Kim Mo, who runs a spinning center in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, has closed the center again.
This is because, as the distance between the metropolitan area has been upgraded to 2.5 stages, all indoor sports facilities have to be stopped.
That doesn't mean that things were so good when the distance level was lower than it is now.
From the beginning of the coronavirus, members requesting an extension of the period or requesting a refund due to anxiety decreased.
The number of members decreases, but the
monthly maintenance fee and building rent are around 3.5 million won.
Excluding this, Kim had more months with negative income.
"I've been through for a year, but now I have no place to get a loan."
Mr. Kim, who has a cluttered voice, said he did not know how much longer he could withstand.
● Rents that go out just by breathing, self-
employed people The biggest burden for self-employed people in the fight against the prolonged corona,
though breathless, is unchanged rent.
The story of'good building owner', which was sometimes known through the media, was a distant story for Kim.
I tried to ask the landlord to reduce the rent carefully, but the answer that came back was buried
.
Kim is not the only self-employed person who is not sure how to pay for the rent that goes out'just breathe'.
Another self-employed person in the printing-related wholesale and retail business also said that he was only waiting for the'second disaster subsidy' that has not yet come out.
With the spread of non-face-to-face consumption, the demand for physical papers such as various flyers and brochures decreased further.
"I didn't know if the corona hit would hit me," he sighed deeply, adding.
He also saw a 30% drop in sales compared to the previous year and 50% compared to the beginning of this year.
● 3 out of 10 instructors at academy are unemployed...
"If you want
to endure, you have
no choice but to let go" The
vacation is approaching, but it is also difficult for the academies to lock the door.
Among the instructors at the academy, 27%
said
that they experienced unemployment due to coronavirus
.
As the closure was extended, eight out of ten people reported that they experienced a closure such as unpaid vacation.
Even that, in many cases, they did not receive the allowance for suspension of business.
A director who runs a tutoring academy in Seoul also said that rent is the biggest concern.
"The rental fee keeps going, but it is difficult to use the instructor as it is in a situation where the recruitment of graduate students is not possible, and even the cost of the student must be reduced," he added.
Instead of the rent that cannot be reduced, employees are sent out to cover the operating expenses of the academy or close the business.
Statistics show that self-employed people are walking on the edge of a cliff
.
According to the Bank of Korea, loans from non-incorporated companies (self-employed) were the highest in history at 387 trillion won as of the end of the third quarter of this year.
Most private business owners borrowed about 38 trillion won from banks between January and September this year.
It increased more than twice as much as in the same period last year, making the words of'I barely endure in debt'.
However, even if the
coronavirus strikes for
self-employed people, whose livelihoods are in jeopardy
, the word'building owner on top of the creator' was still valid
.
In September, the National Assembly revised the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act to include'changes in economic conditions due to first-class infectious diseases' in the requirements for rent increase or decrease claims.
Small business owners and self-employed people affected by the coronavirus pandemic have also provided a basis for claiming rent reductions from landlords.
However, the changed law also did not provide a fence for them.
80% of small business owners said their rent was still the same as before.
There were even 14% of cases where rents rose from the previous year.
There have been many appeals from self-employed people that the lessor is not obligated to accommodate the demand for reduction, making it less effective.
● Australia requires landlords to reduce rent...
Canada,
what about other countries
so that both landlords and tenants can benefit
.
In Australia, in April this year, in the Corona 19 phase, the Mandatory Code of Conduct, which applies to commercial real estate lease agreements, was announced, stipulating that the landlord would give tenants a rent reduction in proportion to business damage
.
It has been stipulated that the lessor cannot increase the rent during the Corona 19 period and cannot terminate the lease for non-payment of rent.
Canada also has a Canada Emergency Commercial Rental Assistance Policy.
The main idea is to provide the landlord with benefits such as tax cuts and loan repayment delays, while at the same time reducing rent by at least 75%.
Because the government pays 50% of the rent, the tenant only needs to pay a maximum of 25%.
The government has eased the burden on landlords, while ensuring that the benefits are delivered to tenants.
It is in contrast to us.
Self-employed people are sighing deeply in the situation of long distances until the end of the year.
This is why rent measures that touch the skin like Australia and Canada are necessary.
Discussing how the government, landlords, and tenants can truly share the pain may be more important than providing an additional $1.2 million in support right now.
There are too many people who are simply invisible to our eyes, and are at a crossroads'fail or endure' struggling for minutes.
It is impossible to rely on the goodwill of the'good building owner' forever.
* Workplace Gap-Jil 119, <Survey of 500 instructors for 10 months of Corona>,
Federation of Small Business Owners, <Results of Survey on Rent Status on November 5>,
Library of Congress <US, Canada and Australia Legislative Cases on the Corona Pandemic and Protection of Commercial
Rentals
>
I was helped.